


Chuck

by TheTimeTraveler24



Series: The Misadventures of Percy, Jason, and Nico [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Babysitting, Children of the Big Three (Percy Jackson), Gen, Implied Nico di Angelo/Will Solace, Jason Grace & Percy Jackson Bromance, Jason Grace Ships Nico di Angelo/WIll Solace, Jason Grace is a Dork, Nico di Angelo is a Dork, Overprotective Nico di Angelo, Percy Jackson is a Dork, Percy Jackson is a Good Brother, Protective Nico di Angelo, Will Solace Has a Phobia of Mellie and Baby Chuck, literally he's super excited about his new baby sibling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-22
Updated: 2020-12-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 23:53:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28245726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheTimeTraveler24/pseuds/TheTimeTraveler24
Summary: Nico di Angelo had no idea babysitting was this stressful. Nor did he realize by the end of the day he would have lost the baby, found the baby, left the baby, confess his secrets to the baby, and possibly land himself a date.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Gleeson Hedge & Clarisse La Rue, Jason Grace/Piper McLean, Nico di Angelo & Clarisse La Rue, Nico di Angelo & Gleeson Hedge & Reyna Avila Ramírez-Arellano, Nico di Angelo & Jason Grace & Percy Jackson, Nico di Angelo & Will Solace, Nico di Angelo/Will Solace
Series: The Misadventures of Percy, Jason, and Nico [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2059599
Comments: 14
Kudos: 150





	Chuck

The thing about near death experiences, you always seemed to come out the other side with a bunch of new friends. Mostly the ones who almost died with you.

Nico knew that in Coach Hedge’s mind, he was as close to a friend as you could get due to their shared experience traveling through shadows and fighting monsters while tied to a forty foot statue. So it made sense that the coach trusted him.

But Nico did  _ not _ think that trust extended to  _ children. _

“Di Angelo!” Clarisse La Rue barked. She plunked a tiny object down into Nico’s lap at breakfast.

Nico blinked and looked down. Coach Hedge’s new baby, Chuck, was staring up at him with an innocent looking smile.

“It’s a baby,” Nico said.

“Great observation,” Clarisse rolled her eyes. “I’m supposed to be watching Chuck since I’m his godmother—” she looked proud to say that “—but I have to leave Camp for most of the day. The coach likes you enough for me to trust you to watch the kid, but I’m warning you now, di Angelo. Any funny business and I’ll bash your head in.” She got up and walked away, leaving Nico holding the baby satyr.

Nico’s mouth fell open. He looked back at Chuck. “Uh…”

What the Hades did Clarisse expect him to do? He didn’t know what to do about kids or how to take care of one for a whole day! Oh gods, was he going to have to change a diaper and  _ feed _ Chuck? What did babies eat?

“You have a baby,” someone remarked.

Nico snapped his head up to see Jason and Percy standing on the other side of the Big Three table. “Chuck Hedge,” he said.

Percy peered down at Chuck. “Aww, cute. Coach asked you to take care of him?”

“Clarisse demanded I cover for her,” Nico muttered. “How do you take care of a baby satyr? Or a baby in general?”

“Ask Will,” Jason said. “He’s a doctor, right?”

“I can’t  _ ask Will, _ Jason,” Nico said, giving Jason an incredulous look. “How would he know anything about babies? Besides, I don’t think he ever wants to see—”

“Will? Babies?” Cecil Markowitz grinned. His eyes found Chuck. “Wait. Is that?”

“It is,” Nico sighed.

Cecil cracked up. “Hey, Will! Look who it is!” He grabbed Chuck out of Nico’s hands and held him up like in the Lion King. “Chuck!”

Over at the Apollo table, Will Solace buried his head in his arms, face red.

Nico’s heart jumped to his throat. “Cecil!” he protested. He quickly removed the baby satyr from Cecil’s hands.

“Awww,” Percy cooed. “You were worried about him, weren’t you?”

“Clarisse threatened to bash my head in if anything happens to Chuck,” Nico informed him. “I just want to keep Chuck alive until she gets back.”

“By doing what?” Jason asked.

Nico paused. “I don’t know. I guess I could take him back to my cabin and bring him with me to eat.”

“Except you told Will you’d help him at the infirmary today,” Cecil added unhelpfully. “And I don’t think Will wants to see Chuck.”

“I’ll watch him!” Percy said brightly. “My mom’s pregnant, so I’ll have to help take care of a baby soon. I can practice! Did you guys know my mom’s pregnant? I’m going to have a little sibling.”

“So you’ve said,” Nico said flatly. “Yesterday.”

“Two days ago,” Jason added.

“Three days ago.

“Four.”

“Five.”

“Last week.”

“Okay, I get it,” Percy grumbled. “I’m just excited! I get to be a big brother! I don’t have any demigod siblings and my mom hasn’t had any other kids.” He sent a hopeful look at Nico. “Can I please help? We can take Chuck swimming and surfing and canoeing and—”

“You can’t take a baby swimming!” Nico sputtered. He tilted his head. “Can you?”

Jason shrugged. “I dunno, man. I was a baby when Lupa trained me and I’m still here.”

Nico glanced at him. “Uh huh. Not really reassuring me at all. I think I’ll just—”

“Please!” Percy pouted. “I wanna help.”

Nico closed his eyes. “I appreciate that, but I really don’t think Clarisse is going to let me live if I let you near Chuck. I’m just going to go back to my cabin and… I don’t know. Talk to him? Can babies talk?”

As if waiting for that, Chuck started babbling nonsensical words.

“Abah bah bah bah,” the baby satyr said.

Nico sighed. “Never mind. Come on, Chuck.”

He stood up and stalked out of the dining pavilion, ignoring Percy’s pleas.

* * *

“I don’t suppose you know how to play mythomagic,” Nico said.

Chuck was laying down on the blanket from Hazel’s bed and Nico was sitting on the floor across from him.

“It’s the only kids game I know,” Nico continued. He let out a breath. “I guess you don’t. How old are you? A few weeks? Why am I talking to a baby?” He fell back to lay on his back on the floor.

A small skeletal mouse scampered out of the dark and crawled over to Nico. He supposed that was probably a good sign since he didn’t feel particularly drained. Will would probably still kill him anyway.

Chuck’s babbling stopped. Nico looked up to see Chuck’s eyes fixed on the mouse.

“A toy,” Nico realized. He let out a relieved breath. “You just need something to play with. Do you like the mouse? Here.” He pointed at Chuck and the skeleton crawled to the baby satyr.

Chuck’s face lit up and he reached out to grab the mouse.

Everything was going great until—

“No!” Nico yelled, snatching the mouse from Chuck's hands. He stared at the baby in horror. “Can you eat bones? Oh my gods, I’ve killed you! Hold on, Chuck, we’re going to the infirmary.”

Nico snatched up Chuck and ran out of the cabin.

* * *

“WILL!” he yelled, barging into the infirmary. “WILL SOLACE! SOLACE, WHERE ARE YOU?”

“Nico?” Kayla blinked, coming around a corner. “Um, are you okay?”

“I swear, I didn’t do it on purpose!” Nico shouted.

Kayla frowned. “I’m sorry?”

Nico shoved Chuck at her. “He was chewing on these, uh, well, there was a mouse. A skeleton of a mouse. And I had Chuck playing with it and he started chewing on it. Can satyr babies eat bones?”

Kayla held up a hand. “Nico. First of all. Satyr teeth can’t chew through bone. Second. Chuck is a baby. Which means he doesn’t even half teeth. He was probably teething.”

“Teething? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Babies bit and gnaw at things when their teeth are growing in,” Kayla explained. “Chuck is fine. Did you look at the bones before you came here?”

Now that she mentioned it, the mouse skeleton  _ was _ completely intact.

Nico smiled sheepishly. “Sorry.”

“It’s fine,” Kayla smiled. “You’re babysitting Chuck? That’s nice. He’s so cute. Hey, Will!” she called. “Nico’s here!”

“I know!” Will’s voice called. “And that means unmentionable number two is here!”

“It’s a baby, Solace!” Nico said loudly. “And his name is Chuck.”

Will peeked around the corner, hands covering his eyes. “And everytime I see it, I see that early morning very vividly in my eyes. I have seen  _ way _ more of a woman than I ever want to see again.”

Nico wrinkled his nose. “TMI, Solace.”

Will dropped his hands in surprise. “Hey, you used an acronym.”

“Oh, lol,” Nico said dryly. “TTYL, Solace.”

“I could  _ hear _ the lowercase LOL, Nico.”

“I like it. It looks like a drowning person.”

Kayla rolled her eyes. “If you’re going to flirt, do it outside of my infirmary.”

Nico sputtered. “Not… what… flirting… what…”

“It’s  _ my _ infirmary,” Will said, looking insulted.

“It’s mine when you and Nico are flirting,” Kayla said, sticking her nose in the air and marching off.

“This isn’t flirting,” Nico said when Kayla was gone. “Not even close.”

“Right,” Will said.

“I don’t even like you.”

“I know,” Will nodded.

“You’re annoying.”

“You’re cute.”

Nico’s face burned. “I hate you.”

“I know you do. It’s also cute.”

“I’m going to leave now,” Nico said, face still red.

“Okay,” Will agreed.

“And make sure Chuck doesn’t die.”

“You do that.”

“I will.”

Will nodded. “Okay.”

Nico turned to leave.

“See ya later, sunshine!” Will called.

Nico practically ran out of the infirmary.

“We’re going back to my cabin,” Nico informed Chuck. “But no more bones.”

* * *

“What do you think about Will?” Nico asked Chuck. “Was he this annoying when you were born?”

Chuck stared at him unblinkingly.

“Do you know what he did the first time I met him?” Nico asked. “I mean, right when I got back from shadow traveling the Athena Parthenos. He had the  _ audacity _ to touch me. He just marched right up and grabbed my hands. Who does that? I almost ran him through with my sword.” He patted the hilt of the Stygian iron sword.

Chuck babbled.

“Yeah, I guess he’s a good friend,” Nico mused. “But I don’t know. Everyone thinks we  _ flirt _ a lot.”

Chuck cooed.

“No, that wasn’t flirting. I don’t care what Kayla said. We’re just friends.”

Chuck tilted his head.

“I'm pretty sure he just says I’m… cute to annoy me, Chuck. That means nothing. Don’t make it mean something when it doesn’t.”

Chuck pouted.

“It doesn’t mean anything if there are these skeletal butterflies whenever Will smiles at me. I don’t like him.”

Chuck cooed again.

Nico looked at Chuck. “No. I don’t. I don’t,” he insisted.

Chuck sighed.

“Maybe a little,” Nico admitted. “But just a tiny bit. Really small. Like, really small.” He pinched two of his fingers together. “Like this much.”

Chuck frowned at him.

“Okay, I like Will Solace a lot,” Nico said, glaring at Chuck. “Happy?”

Chuck smiled and babbled.

“You suck.”

Chuck’s smile faded.

“But you’re a good listener.”

Chuck giggled.

Nico sighed. “You know, if Cupid was more like you, I think Croatia would have been easier.” He sighed again. “I can’t believe this is twice now someone’s gotten a confession out of me.” He shook his head. “At least you can’t tell anyone.”

That’s when Chuck decided it would be a good idea to start crying.

Nico panicked. “Oh gods. Okay. Uh, you’re hungry? It’s…” he looked out the window. “Lunch time ish? Yeah, you’re probably hungry. So… you stay here and I’ll get some food? I’ll be back in a second.”

* * *

When Nico returned with a plateful of vegetables (because satyrs liked veggies, right?), Chuck was not where he left him.

Nico set the plate down and tried not to panic.

“Babies can’t move very fast,” he reasoned. “So if he’s crawling, he should be by the cabins still.”

With that in mind, he set off, jogging around the cabins, looking for Chuck. He circled once, then twice, then three times. He didn’t see Chuck. He started to panic.

“Oh gods, oh gods,” Nico muttered. “Come on, Chuck.”

There was a loud  _ whoop! _ that came from the beach and Nico clenched his fists.

“Jackson,” he growled. Nico stalked off towards the beach.

When he got there, sure enough, Percy was sitting on top of a giant wave with baby Chuck in his lap. Jason was flying alongside them, making faces at the baby satyr.

“JACKSON!” Nico yelled. “GRACE!”

The giant wave dropped. Percy and Chuck fell with it.

Nico’s eyes widened. He made some sort of noise, but honestly, he could describe it even if he tried.

Jason dove after them, but Percy and Chuck went under water. Seconds later, Percy broke the surface with Chuck in his arms. He waded out of the water and frowned at Nico.

“What’s the big idea?” Percy asked. “You made me lose focus.”

“What’s the big idea?” Nico repeated. “WHAT’S THE BIG IDEA? The big idea is you STOLE A BABY AND TOOK IT SWIMMING!” he screamed. “I’m supposed to be watching Chuck and making sure he survives a whole day without Clarisse beating up people and you two went and stole him WITHOUT TELLING ME!”

Percy and Jason looked abashed. “Sorry,” they muttered.

“But to be fair,” Percy continued, “you  _ did _ leave Chuck alone in your cabin. That’s not very safe either.”

“Safer than taking him to the beach!” Nico said. He crossed his arms. “What were you thinking?”

Percy pouted. “Oh come on,” he said. “He was fine. I can make an air bubble if his head goes under, Nico. Besides. Remember what Cecil said. You’re helping Will this afternoon. Leave Chuck with us while you do that. Jason and I will bring him back in one piece. Pinky promise.” He stuck out a pinky.

Nico stared at it. “What the Hades is a pinky promise?”

“It’s like an oath on the Styx,” Jason said, wide eyed. “You can’t break it. It’s the most serious promise you can make.”

“You made that up,” Nico decided. “But fine.” He stuck out a pinky.

Percy hooked his pinky around Nico’s and shook. “Okay. Jason and I will watch Chuck. We’ll stay here until dinner, so if you freak out, just come here. Once you and Will get out of the infirmary and come to dinner, you can meet us at our table.”

Nico let out a breath. “Right. Okay. Just… don’t do anything stupid. WWAD.”

“What?” Jason asked.

“What would Annabeth do?” Nico said. He paused. “Actually, WWAPD. What would Annabeth and Piper do? Whatever your girlfriends would do… do that.”

Percy saluted. “Aye, aye. Now go flirt or whatever it is you and Will do in the infirmary.”

Nico flushed. “Shut up.” He eyed Chuck like  _ I dare you to tell them what I told you. _ Then he turned and headed to the infirmary and tried to drown out the enthusiastic  _ whoop! _ that came from behind him.

* * *

“Where’s the thing?” Will asked.

Nico rolled his eyes. “If I didn’t know what you’d been through, I’d say you were being rude. But Chuck’s with Percy and Jason.”

“Percy and Jason?”

“Don’t make me think about it too much,” Nico groaned. “I’m already regretting it.”

“I’m guessing Percy and Jason aren’t on your list of potential babysitters?” Will teased.

Nico shrugged. “Don’t have a list. I’m not… I don’t… Kids don’t usually like me. And I wasn’t planning on… I don’t think… I wouldn’t know how to take care of a kid.”

“Well,  _ I _ think you’re doing a great job, Uncle Nico,” Will said cheerfully.

Nico scowled. Stupid skeletal butterflies. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Why do you even need help anyway? Don’t you have siblings for that?”

Will’s eyes widened. “Nico! Friendly face, remember?”

“I am  _ not _ a friendly face.”

“No, you’re a cute face.”

Nico turned red. “Uh…” He was pretty sure he wasn’t supposed to be losing the ability to speak.

“Where’s di Angelo?” someone outside demanded.

Nico swore. “She’s back already?”

“Who? Clarisse?” Will frowned.

“I have to get Chuck!” Nico said frantically. “Oh my gods. She’s going to kill me.”

“She’s not going to kill you—”

“If I survive this, go with me to the campfire tonight?”

Will blinked. “With you? Like together? Um, sur—”

“See you then, BRB, I gotta go find a baby satyr and then hide in my cabin from sheer embarrassment. Bye!” Nico zipped out of the infirmary.

* * *

“Give him back!” Nico said, running at Jason and Percy who were sitting with baby Chuck building a sandcastle. Trying to build a sandcastle anyway.

Percy looked up. “That was fast.”

“She’s back!” Nico said wildly. “Clarisse. Oh my gods, I’m going to die. And—” his eyes went wide. “Oh my gods, I asked Will Solace to the campfire because I’m about to die.”

“Finally,” Jason muttered. He cleared his throat. “Great. Well, you can take Chuck because I was just about to spar with Percy.”

“We were?” Percy blinked. “But we have Chuck. Why would we spar when we’re supposed to watch Chuck for Nico?”

“Because it’s time to see who would have really killed who in Kansas,” Jason said.

Percy jumped up. “Oh, no. I think we all know  _ I _ would have killed you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah!”

Percy and Jason flew—literally in Jason’s case—towards the arena, leaving Nico with Chuck.

“Come on, Chuck,” Nico sighed. “Let’s get you back to Clarisse.”

* * *

“Hmm,” Clarisse said, eyeing Chuck carefully. “Hmm.”

“What?” Nico asked nervously.

Clarisse shrugged. “Eh, I guess you did good, di Angelo. Chuck looks good. He’s not dead or dying. I was worried you let Prissy take him swimming or something.”

Nico felt a bead of sweat make its way down his back. “Well, I didn’t let Percy take him swimming.”

Clarisse nodded. “Good. So all you let him do was build sandcastles.”

“What?”

“I went to the beach first,” Clarisse said, crossing her arms. “Jackson was being obnoxious.”

“Okay, it’s not my fault,” Nico said defensively. “First of all, Percy kidnapped Chuck. Then I went to get him back and then he and Jason reminded me I was supposed to help Will and they would watch Chuck since Will has a phobia of Chuck and Mellie now. And I kinda… agreed?”

Clarisse raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“Sorry,” Nico cringed.

“Eh, the kid’s tough. He can handle Jackson and Grace,” Clarisse said.

“You aren’t mad?” Nico asked hopefully.

“Nah,” Clarisse said. “But I will be if you blow off Solace. I think you broke him. He looked a little shell shocked when I was there.” She glared at Nico. “Solace is the only one of those archery brats I can stand.” She took Chuck from Nico and marched off.

Nico scowled and muttered to himself and he trudged back to the infirmary. “Stupid Solace. Stupid babies. I bet Percy and Jason planned this.”

He stopped outside the infirmary and took a deep breath before heading in.

“Solace?” he called.

**Author's Note:**

> Did I maybe draw inspiration from the Mandalorian where he freaking LEAVES THE CHILD ALONE ALL THE TIME AND IS SURPRISED WHEN SOMETHING BAD HAPPENS when I wrote the part about Nico leaving Chuck? Absolutely not. What made you think that?


End file.
